Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

Oh, dear. I haven't had an image poke at _those_ parts of my imagination in quite a while.

Okay, I'd like to be seven of this at once, in assorted rainbow colors and genders/bulge-profiles, please.

Heh. When I used to get upset like this, sometime I'd ask Keet or Rik if they wanted to help me design some propaganda stickers and sneak around town with me putting them up.

I have this passing notion of making that basically my going-away party: I print out a bunch of snarky queer leftist slogans and we have a little dérive around town, leaving behind confounding Stereolab-Marxist agitprop as the tiger's last big territorial poop on Seattle.

@Aradia *puts on patented SoftTeeth(TM) and mauls friendly-like* <3

I just feel totally besieged this morning. My sense that I know enough to have any opinions at all has been scrambled by news overexposure, failed attempts to relate to the locals, general insecurity, and so much rehashing the past.

It's feeling more and more like Trump is going to get exactly what he wants: a case against him that's just hazy enough that he can spin it all to his base as persecution, and keep us all in gaslit shock for years.

Meanwhile, I'm about to uproot my whole life and move. Granted, to someplace warmer and friendlier than Seattle, but it's right in the middle of still reassuring myself I haven't lost most people's esteem up here-- if I ever really had it, and wasn't just conveniently in people's way at Transliminal. :)

And Parallax is a mess right now. I'm kinda having another Dark Night with it, where it all seems totally mushy and incomprehensible and flat, and any plot I write is just going to create another dozen complications.

I don't know. Work is still quiet and steady. Things are good with the family back in Ohio, though the parental mortality fears are setting back in again. Peg and I are mostly getting along okay, though a grumpy episode the other day reminded me of some things I still really loathe about myself. Maybe it's just winter, maybe it's just mid-life crisis.

I'll be okay. I'm already better for having spilled all this out. I just... yeah. I miss the old days. I miss certain people, too, even though just mentioning their names feels agonizing, like I just blasphemed and should go hide my shame under a rock or something. I just wish I had... some sense of orientation or advantage or real existential security right now. Hugs would be a good placebo for now though.

@kobi_lacroix "Inside every one of us is a duck, a cat, and a lizard..." -- Graham Chapman's legendary unpublished self-help book, "Hello, Sailor"

@kel@dragon.style I like the cut of your jib, Pim, and I think I'm in a similar mood. I don't secrete ANY toxic metalloids whatsoever, more's the pity, but...

*climbs to the top of Olympus Mons, drinks vile Martian intoxicants by the keg, and screams at the top of her lungs while emptying battery after battery of plasma-rifle ammo at the Earth in the sky*

@Balinares Sounds good! <3

@Balinares How's next Friday looking for you? Is that too close to when you need to be getting ready to go? Thursday is looking okay too!

@Balinares I just might! I'm trying to figure out schedules for the next week. I can at least try to work something out with you!

@Balinares Hey, how long are you going to be in town?

@Phorm I really liked that those two remained pure of heart through the whole thing. They were never Bill's creations-- he just stole them from the 69th Dimension Of Rad.

@acetone_kitten Not nearly as often as I should, but I've been there! Yeah, sadly it's basically the only good remaining Mexican in the neighborhood, though TNT over in Wallingford is also pretty damn good. I'm mostly making my own Mexican these days. You're missin' out, traitor. :D <3 <3<

@Phorm Yeah, and I almost wish they'd gone a little further with the whole theme of "buying off one of the heroes' complicity." Humans are REAL easy to trick into believing you're the Good Guy just because you make them, personally, comfortable...

@Phorm (Also, as a general rule of thumb, it's kinda hard to overshare with me. I think I kinda miss oversharing too. :) )

@Phorm Honestly, I would too. I miss Dronespace a whole lot.

@Leucrotta That would be the perfect name for a Freegan restaurant...

Seriously. I've ranted about this before in the context of the film "1408." How come all the incomprehensible extradimensional phenomena are always weirdly hostile to humans? How come the side effects of an encounter with the inexplicable are always not just unpleasant, but *personal* somehow?

In fact, never mind horror. That was half the point of the Saturnians: humans are so full of nicely exploitable pleasure centers that hook right into their behavioral routines. And humans tend to _resent_ pain, so torturing them into doing your will is just asking some Buffy or Jamie Lee type to come fuck your shit up.

No, extradimensional reavers. Learn the wisdom of Rock and Rule's "villain" Mok. Break out the Edison spheres, turn the Final Girl into a useful musical instrument, and make your prey happy, goofy, and useless.

Bird Box, except the invisible monsters are all canine "demons" who fill their victims with the urge to derp, drool, and bark uncontrollably.

First you hear panting all around you, and then your whole world is just MOIST, and you hear ethereal voices around you saying "sit" and "fetch."

You don't really have to worry too much about keeping survivors at bay, though, because a sharp glare and a "NO!" is enough to get them to stop trying to convert you. Also, the demons can be driven miles away just by staring excitedly at the horizon and asking aloud: "Cookie?"

Civilization still collapses. It's just nicer.

"Kohler’s Numi 2.0 Intelligent Toilet is one of those strange products that draws so heavily on buzzwords and tech trends that it’s indistinguishable from parody. In a press release, Kohler promises that customers will enjoy a 'fully-immersive experience' thanks to the many..."

I stopped reading there. I was laughing too hard. I don't think a "fully immersive experience" is something I really want in this context.

@001zlnv This is one of the prominent reasons I'm gonna miss Seattle after I move to New Orleans. I liked being able to trust tap water. >_<